Prodigy Phenomenon
by balivesay
Summary: Military secrets lead to the transformation of one girl's life forever. Her abilities create a fatal target on her back as she's hunted down, will she face her fears or risk her own bloodshed to the world's end?


Prodigy Phenomenon

They say that the average human being only uses ten percent of their brain. So, there in-lies the question, "why don't we use our brains in their entirety?" The brain is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. Each lobe has specific functions that it performs. The Frontal lobes are involved in tracking and sense of self. Additionally, they're involved in arousal and initiations as well as consciousness of environment, reaction to self and environment, executive functioning and judgments,  
emotional response and stability, language usage, personality, word associations and meaning, and memory for habits of motor activity.

The Parietal lobe is involved in visual perception, tactile or touch perception, object manipulation, and integration of sensory information that allow for understanding of a single concept  
and goal-directed voluntary movements. The Temporal lobes have to do with intellect, auditory perception (hearing), long-term memory, some visual perception, and object categorization. Finally, the Occipital lobe is used for visual perception.

What if there was a way to will one's self into using brain in its entirety? If we, as humans, only use ten percent of our brains and we can perform all of these tasks, then imagine one's self using the brain wholly, one hundred percent of the time, creating new synapses. How do we do it? Where is the connection? How could we possibly will ourselves into advancement of those unused synapses if we don't understand what they are capable of and when we don't normally use them in the first place?

(intro Lee and Caleb)

It was a breezy winter evening as the sun disappeared behind the snowy mountain caps; a fresh blanket of snow, about two inches thick, covered the ground. You could hear the crunching of gravel and snow beneath Briley's feet as she walked from the chopping stump to the door of the house, carrying two pieces of wood she had just cut. Her cheeks were pink due to the cold air; her hair wisping in the wind. She zipped up her sleeveless down-feather vest overtop her white, long-john shirt and returned to the chopping stump. She lived in a small log cabin, to her own taste, far enough away not to be bothered but close enough to get into town if she really needed to.

Her dog, Sadey, started barking like crazy towards the driveway. When Briley stopped to look, she saw that old blue Chevy pullin' up the path. She planted her ax in the ground, and leaned on its handle with a smile. A tall, handsome guy stepped out of the pick-up, with a smile on his face.

"Hey there Sadey!" he said while petting her after she had jumped up on his jeans to say hello. He shut the car door behind him and patted his jeans for Sadey to follow as he walked up the drive to see Briley.

"You got some mud there on your jeans cowboy," Briley smiled. He looked down and dusted what he could off.

"It's all good, not like I care." He smiled back. She stood upright, still holding the axe in one hand.

"It's late, shouldn't you be getting' home?" she yelled to him.

"No." he answered.

"What brings you up here?" she asked. He looked down for a moment then, stopping in front of her, with a smile, looked back up at her.

"You." He answered. She shook her head and laughed. He held his hand out to gesture going inside, "you gonna invite me in? It's kinda cold." He chuckled.

"okay." She answered. She tossed the ax near the stump, dusted her gloves off and led him inside the cabin.

As you enter the house, to your left was the kitchen and dining room. To your right was the living room with a fire goin'. In front of you was a staircase, at the top was the bathroom and to the left and down the hall was the bedroom. The entire house was built of logs, its interior was homey, certainly a cabin-escape. She tossed her gloves on the table, unzipped her vest and hung it on the chair.

"You can lay your things anywhere." Briley mentioned.

"Oh, thanks." He answered after coming out of a stare. "The place looks really nice Briley."

"Thanks, I figured I'd be here for awhile, so I'd give it my own touch." She smiled as she poured the coffee. He laid his coat and gloves on the table as well, placing his shoes next to hers by the door. She handed him coffee as she passed by, heading for the couch in the living room. "Make yourself at home Jake." She said as she sat on the couch, sitting Indian-style. Jake sat next to her on the couch, placing his mug on the stool nearby. Briley smiled at him while drinking her coffee. Her eyes peered over the mug as she took a sip holding onto the cup carefully with both hands.

"How's life up here?" Jake asked.

Briley placed her mug onto another stool nearby, "its okay. Quiet, which is nice, I don't have quite as many headaches as before."

"That's good." He interjected, tryin not to make his visit awkward.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Sometimes it gets lonely though." She looked into the fire. Jake studied her.

"Why don't you ever invite me up here then?"

Briley's head snapped around. "Well, I just figured you were busy at the lumber-mill. I didn't want to take time away from your life either, I mean, you've got a family in town and everything."

"You're part of the family too Briley." He smiled. "Mama sends you support so you can be up here and you come down for thanksgiving and birthdays and Christmas too. We all miss you. Ever since your daddy past away you've been different."

Briley breathed in deeply, "yall are sweet." She smiled. "Yeah, daddy taught me to be a tough girl after mama passed away." She giggled, "said I was his perfect little girl. You're family's been the closest to an actual close-knit family I've ever had. You've always been there for me." She smiled. "Guess I wouldn't mind company more often."

"You guess?" he asked playfully as he scooted closer to her. Briley rested her head on her left hand on the side of the couch, trying not to laugh at his playfulness, but she couldn't help it. "Are you laughing at me?" he chuckled. Briley laughed ever more, covering her mouth. "Don't cover your mouth, I love to see you smile." He said sweetly. She lowered them, smiling back. Jake was just about to lean in, and Briley shifted her eyes nervously then cleared her throat /

"Are you hungry or anything? I've got some beef stew?" she said getting up and heading into the kitchen. Jake sat there for a moment, gave a half grin, expecting her response but wishing she wasn't so stubborn. He turned around and watched her in the kitchen getting dinner made. He got up and stood behind her in the kitchen.

Briley was a bit frazzled, of course she desired a relationship with Jake, shoot, they'd grown up together. She'd made herself wait, for so many years, until he showed interest in her until she could display her affection. Now, that the time had come and he did, she didn't know what to do with herself. Then the thought of him not wanting to be with her because of her abilities crossed her mind. Jake knew Briley all too well and had a good idea that she'd probably convinced herself that no one would want her.

"You do know that your secret has nothing to do with my feelings for you, don't you?" Jake asked stepping closer behind her. Briley was busy messing with the bowls but set them down firmly. Briley laughed and then sighed. Briley turned around, bracing herself with her arms on the counter.

"I'm so different Jake, what could I possibly offer you? I've isolated myself in hopes of protection, I have no prospects."

"Bri," Jake interluded, grabbing her forearms to calm her down.

"I can't even give you a child without someone finding out!" she finished bursting into tears, falling into Jake's arms and buried her head and sobbed. Jake sighed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Briley's small figure, rubbing her back for comfort.

"So, is this why you've been pushing me away, or trying to anyway?" Jake asked. Briley lifted her head, pulled her sleeve down past her hand to wipe her face and looked at him all red-faced. She covered her nose with one hand as it was propped up by the other.

"Yes," she giggled a bit. "I thought…that…there was no way to make you happy." Jake stepped closer to her.

"Well, you're wrong." He smiled. She took her hand away from her face as he stroked her cheek and tucked the hair behind her ear ever so gently. "You've always made me happy. Your laugh, your smile, those eyes, your character – everything that makes up you – I love." Jake leaned in to the point of almost touching lips, "I love you." And he kissed her gently. The gentle kiss flowed into a passionate kiss, that allowed Briley to finally let her guard down and surrender to Jake.

Pulling back, the two smiled at each other. POP! The crackle of the fire startled both of them that their heads turned to notice the fire slowly burning out. Jake looked at Briley.

"So," she turned to him, "if I go chop more wood, can I stay the night?" he brought her fingers to his lips. Briley sighed with a little smile.

"Yes…only if you promise to never leave me."

"I'll never leave you Briley." He said kissing her fingers, then heading towards the door putting on his coat and gloves and boots. Briley folded her arms in a seductive way following behind as he opened the door.

"Don't be too long now!" she called out to him in the midst of the windy night. He looked back and saw that playful smile on her face.

The wood made a clanking noise as Jake set the four logs into the fireplace. He blew on the flame to get the fire goin' again. He took his boots off and set them by the door as well as his coast and gloves on the table. He looked around to find Briley's jeans lying on the fourth step of the staircase. He picked it up the jeans, they were still warm. He headed up the stairs and gave a grin when he smelled the sweet scent of vanilla sugar, Briley's perfume. Looking down the hall, about five feet in front of him, was the bedroom. You could see candles lit and flickering shadows on the walls.

Walking into the bedroom, there was a vanity to his left and on the far left wall there was a king-sized bed with white and tan down-feather blankets and dozens of pillows. There, too, was Briley, still wearing her white long-john shirt, one side slipping off her shoulder revealing bare skin. She gracefully maneuvered off the bed and drew closer to Jake. She lovingly kissed his lips and his neck as she unbuttoned his red, plaid shirt. She stroked his arms as the shirt fell to the floor. Jake then caressed her neck and began kissing her face and neck passionately as he placed his hands on her hips and seductively stroked upwards her skin beneath her shirt.

They looked each other in the eyes, breathing deeply. Her navy blue eyes dazzled with the accent of brown-topaz mascara. She wore very little make-up, her skin glowing beautifully, especially around Jake. Skin touched, warmth transferred, pheromones coursed through their bloodstreams.

5


End file.
